I-4’s narrow shoulders are getting even thinner. Here’s how to avoid the danger.

Vernon Stewart jumped out of his white pickup truck as cars approached from his left at more than 70 mph on State Road 429. He was stopping to help a man who ran out of gas and was stranded on the exit ramp to Stewart’s right. .

“This is the most dangerous type of stop because there is traffic on each side” of the shoulder where his truck was parked, Stewart said as he walked, carefully, toward oncoming traffic to set up the cones.

But Stewart, a ranger on the Central Florida Expressway network for more than 10 years, said despite the danger he would rather be here than parked along the Florida Department of Transportation’s Interstate 4.

“I will never work on I-4 again,” Stewart said. “The shoulders are so small and there is so much traffic that it makes my job much more difficult.”

The shoulders along Central Florida’s busiest highway are about to get a lot worse.

I-4 will soon begin a $2.5 billion improvement project that aims to widen 14 miles of the interstate starting near Disney Springs on State Road 536, crossing a 7-mile section of Osceola County that includes ChampionsGate and ending at the US Highway 27 in Polk County. . In an effort to rapidly improve what has become the most congested corridor in the country, The state promises to complete the project in just ten years.

But that decade-long construction schedule will create even more dangerous conditions along I-4’s already narrow shoulders, which will be narrowed to two feet in long stretches, with a concrete barrier separating workers from the lanes. traffic.

Shoulders are consistently among the most dangerous places on a highway, and highway deaths involving pedestrians on shoulders account for about 12% of deaths on interstate highways nationwide, according to AAA. Roadside assistance workers like Stewart are the most vulnerable.

And the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which sets guidelines for shoulder width, cites studies that find that narrowing shoulders significantly increases the risk of crashes. TO 2008 study found that cutting the right shoulder from 8 feet to 2 feet could lead to a 13% increase in crashes.

“A wider shoulder gives people more room to get on or even if they run off the road, it’s easier for them to recover,” said Raghavan Srinivasan, a transportation research engineer at the Highway Safety Research Center at the University of North Carolina, who has conducted research on shoulder design. “If the shoulder is too narrow, they’re probably going to hit something…because beyond the shoulder is something that the highway agency probably isn’t maintaining.”

Srinivasan said AASHTO guidelines for shoulder width vary depending on the number of lanes, the number of vehicles traveling and posted speed limits. Generally, the group recommends that shoulders along major highways be at least 10 feet wide.

But the shoulders along the 24 miles of I-4 through Orange County and the 8 miles through Osceola are narrower than that guideline in many places. They range from 8 to 12 feet, FDOT spokesman Matthew Richardson acknowledged in an email. The construction project will make many stretches even narrower.

“A temporary raised concrete barrier is sometimes placed 2 feet from the travel lane to close the shoulder and provide physical separation between traffic and construction work,” Richardson said. “This is to protect workers in construction zones as well as improve driver safety during construction.”

The Florida Department of Transportation’s Design Manual, the statutes of Florida’s highway agencies, says that highways must maintain full width along their shoulders, but allows for a reduction when necessary.

However, some efforts are being made to reduce the danger.

FDOT is striving to finish construction of two additional lanes on I-4 running from US 27 to east of World Drive by the end of 2025, ahead of the rest of the project. That should give drivers more space while reducing shoulders along that stretch.

Laws like Florida’s recently expanded “step-through law” can also help increase safety. Starting in January, the law added a requirement that drivers move out of the right lane whenever there is a car on the shoulder. Previously, motorists were required to move and slow down only for first responders or authorities.

Officials hope this will help decrease the number of crashes associated with shoulders.

Statewide in 2022, there were 170 crashes involving drivers who were not moving and pedestrians or vehicles on the side of the road, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

Florida Highway Patrol officers, who also provide roadside assistance, can stop cars that do not comply with the law and issue fines. FHP Trooper Migdalisis García said that despite the law, shoulders remain the most dangerous area for anyone on the road, including authorities.

“It can happen anywhere where there is a police officer working on an accident or stopping traffic and unfortunately the driver doesn’t see it,” Garcia said. “I remember that at the academy they said that we should always keep an eye on our shoulders.”

Garcia said distracted driving is often the leading cause of crashes on the shoulders.

Just last month, a 25-year-old Kissimmee woman died on I-4 westbound from Sand Lake Road after failing to see an unoccupied, disabled pickup truck parked on the shoulder in a construction zone, according to an FHP report. . Her Hyundai Elantra collided with the truck and she was partially ejected, according to the report. She died at the scene.

In 2022, Haley Boggs, a 21-year-old student at the University of Central Florida, was driving with a friend on an interstate in Pennsylvania when her car broke down and she attempted to park on the shoulder. Boggs and her friend exited the vehicle and were struck by a distracted driver. Boggs died four days later in the hospital from his injuries.

“Sometimes it’s a little surreal, to be honest, because you know I look at Haley’s picture on my phone and I look at her picture every day and it’s crazy that she’s not here anymore,” said Haley’s mother, Brook Stealey. “It’s hard to talk about her accident, but for me and for her I know it’s what she would want me to do.”

To honor his daughter’s legacy, Stealey founded Haley’s Light in Central Florida, which seeks to raise awareness about the dangers posed by vehicles and pedestrians along roadways.

“We found that a lot of families talk about not texting and driving, not drinking while driving, wearing a seat belt and all those things,” Stealey said. “But one topic that isn’t commonly talked about among families is what to do if your car breaks down on the side of the road.”

Haley’s Light sells magnetic flashing lights for drivers to place on top of their vehicles in case a motorist needs to stop.

Over the summer, Haley’s Light partnered with CFX to provide disabled drivers on the shoulder with those magnetic lights for free. Rangers, including Stewart, distributed about 1,000 of them.

FDOT Guidelines on How to Stop:

Find a safe place. Look for a wide, flat part of the shoulder. If possible, stop at the right shoulder using the flashing light to indicate that you will slow down and move.

make yourself visible. Turn on your hazard lights and headlights, and if it’s dark, turn on your interior lights.

Create space. Leave as much space as you can between your car and the nearest lane.

Stay safe. Avoid standing near oncoming traffic and keep your car between you and the road. If you are stopped at night, turn on the interior dome light or reading lights.

Call a ranger for assistance by dialing *FHP (*347) for the Florida Highway Patrol. Every minute you are on the side of the road puts you at risk.